His Captive Mate (2 page)

One of the men was running parallel to her, through the forest about twenty feet away. More adrenaline pumped through her. She looked to her other side. Another man, running about twenty feet away. The scariest thing about what she saw was how easy it looked for them. She felt like at any minute her lungs might burn through her chest, or her heart explode from exertion. The men seemed to be going for a leisurely jog.

Daz’s mind began racing. There had to be something she could do to outrun them, outsmart them. She couldn’t get caught. If she got caught… She pushed the thought aside and tried to think. Then there was a body in front of her. A giant chest, bare and flexed, and arms that were reaching out. Then she felt the heat around her as those same arms wrapped themselves around her torso. Daz screamed.

As her body was lifted off the ground, she tried to kick but hit only the air, until she felt hands gripping her ankles and winding rope around them. She flailed and tried to fling herself to the ground, but the arms that surrounded her were much too strong.

Finally, there was darkness as something was placed on her eyes and tied tightly at the back of her head. Realizing that struggling would do nothing now, Daz resigned herself temporarily to her fate and relaxed her body. She felt the grip around her relax too.

“She done fighting?” a voice came from somewhere in front.

“For now,” the man holding her answered.

“Put her down,” yet another, deeper voice came from somewhere out ahead. Daz felt herself being lowered to the ground, then made to kneel, her hands tied behind her back. An odd silence descended on the group, interrupted after a few moments by the sounds of footsteps getting closer.

“Come on, let’s do it, boys,” the deep voice behind her said urgently.

“I don’t know,” someone else grumbled up ahead.

“Man, I haven’t had a fuck in weeks. Come on! We’re not going to get a chance like this again!”

A fuck in weeks? Daz wondered what the man was talking about. Were they getting ready to kill her? Would this be revenge for the hunt? Daz began to feel her breathing getting panicked and she withdrew inside herself, calling on her training to still her pulse. There was nothing she could do now. She had run as fast as she could. The only thing she could do was handle whatever happened with a dignity and grace that would make her sisters proud.

“Come on, back off!” the same voice shot through the air, mixed with the sounds of a scuffle.

“What’s going on here?”

Another dry silence settled on the group as the deepest voice yet asked the question.

“Did you hear me, soldier? What the hell is going on here?”

“Sir, we were just discussing how to transport the prisoner back to…”

“Like hell you were!” the deep voice roared. “I see something like that happen again, you’ll be licking your dinner off the latrine floor for the next month, do you understand me?”

Daz balked at the overwhelming sense of command the voice had, whoever it was. Footsteps.

“I said do you understand me, solider?” repeated the same voice. Through clenched teeth.

“Sir, yes, sir!” a man barked. His voice echoed through the woods. More silence.

“Get that blindfold off,” commanded the deeper voice, but this time it sounded calmer.

Daz felt fingers at the back of her head fumbling with the knot there. The pressure around her eyes eased, and she blinked to let the light of day flood in again and looked around. The five men who had been chasing her were standing around her in a close circle. Just behind them was a sixth—probably the one who’d been barking orders. The man in front of him stepped away.

The strangest feeling she’d ever felt filled Daz at the sight of the man. As a Sister of Tranquility she was kept far away from the men below decks. Though she had known they were there before the hunt, she hadn’t spent a lot of time wondering why, but the sight of this man made her wonder what she’d been missing.

He was taller than the others, with thick black hair and blue eyes that seemed to burn right through her. His chest looked like it had been cut out of stone, his arms much the same. Daz looked up and down his body, taking in her first sight of a man so close. One not behind a cage. One who could walk right over and touch her if he wanted. Something stirred inside her. She tried to push it away. She needed to stay focused in case she got a chance to escape.

The man began to move toward her. When he reached the spot where she was on her knees, he crouched down, put a finger under her chin, and made her look into his eyes. Daz felt a shiver run through her at his touch. She wondered if this would make her unclean.

“What’s your name, sunshine?” the man asked, his voice low and oddly comforting. Daz straightened as best she could and tried to take a pose befitting a sister.

“Dazea Gwel,” she said proudly. The man nodded.

“Okay, Dazea, can you walk?”

“Of course I can. I almost outran you all,” Daz replied, annoyed at the question. Who was this man and how dare he ask her questions of this sort? Didn’t he know his place?

“Get her up. Untie her hands and ankles. Let’s get moving.”

Daz felt herself being lifted to her feet and the rope that bound her hands and ankles being untied. She wondered if she should try to run again now. But her legs were still burning with exhaustion from the sprint in the forest. Probably best to save some energy. There would surely be an opportunity later. It seemed like these… men weren’t going to hurt her. For now.

* * *

Zaer Gwel stared out the window overlooking the sparkling lights of the city far below, the two massive crystal spires on the horizon framing her view. In moments like this, moments of great chaos, it was always her way to look out over the land and steady her breathing, calm her thoughts, and remind herself why she was there. For her people.

“Ma’am?” the scared voice said again from behind her. Zaer breathed deeply again, reminding herself not to lose her temper with the messenger.

“Yes, young one,” she said, turning around slowly to face the young woman.

“Ma’am, do you have any orders? About the ship?”

“How long until the rescue ship docks?” Zaer asked as calmly as she could.

“One hour and twenty-seven minutes,” the girl replied, not looking Zaer straight in the eye. This one seemed unusually scared of her. Perhaps it was good that she had that kind of reputation. Made it easier to maintain order.

“Send for me again when they are on their approach. I will meet them at the dock. Until then, I will be below decks.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the woman said, curtsied, then turned to leave the room.

“Tell the nurse she may enter,” Zaer called after the young woman.

“Yes, ma’am,” she replied, turning to do so. Zaer watched her pause, then turn back to face her. “Ma’am?” the girl asked.

“What is it, girl?” Zaer said, scowling at her for all the questions.

“I’m sorry about your daughter.”

Zaer’s expression didn’t change. “She’s not dead yet,” she said, eyeing the girl with an even stare.

The young woman blushed, bowed slightly, then hurried out the door.

Zaer turned once again to face the window. She would go below decks and see how the preparations were going for the next round of breeding. No sense sitting about and moping until the Tranquility arrived with the survivors. A pang of guilty adrenaline shot through Zaer and she closed her eyes and stilled herself, letting it run its course then releasing it into the room. How on earth had that ship suffered so much damage? The reports that they’d been shot had to be fiction. The men didn’t have anything close to capable of wreaking that kind of havoc on the craft. Did they?

“Ma’am?”

Zaer turned at the sound of the voice behind her, wondering how long she’d been lost in her thoughts.

“Yes. Of course. I’m sorry.”

“Not at all, ma’am. Are you still ready to go? I mean, we could put it off if you prefer. Given the circumstances…”

“Nonsense,” Zaer said with a scowl. “There’s no sense sitting and moping about it. I’ll meet the ship at the dock when they arrive. Until then, let’s begin the errands.”

The woman nodded and stepped aside so Zaer could pass.

“Ma’am?” the nurse asked quietly.

“What is it?” Zaer responded, starting to get annoyed.

“Who… who made it off?”

News traveled fast, it seemed.

“Everyone but Ashea. Daz was in midair. They had to abort the retrieval. They saw her crash suit deploy. She’ll be fine.” Zaer knew she should show some more compassion at a time like this, more emotion to make the other women feel better, but somehow she didn’t have the patience for it. The nurse covered her mouth with one hand and shook her head, unable to believe what she’d heard.

“What will she do?” the nurse asked quietly when she’d recovered from the shock of the news.

“She’ll do what she’s trained for. If anyone’s going to survive something like this, it’s Daz. Now come along. Let’s get below and stop wasting time.”

With that, Zaer opened the door and stepped out, with the nurse following her quick stride.

* * *

The descent into below decks was one of Zaer’s secret pleasures. Of course it wasn’t a ship they were on, so it shouldn’t really have been called below decks. Zaer didn’t even remember how the name came to be. It was just a euphemism for the unmentionable things that happened there.

The thick, wet smell of females in heat that hit her when the lift doors opened was something she found particularly arousing. Though she could never admit it to anyone, of course, whenever she inspected below decks, she would have a man brought up that evening—so intoxicating was the odor.

She had a ritual she followed whenever she went there too. She would always walk past the cages first, making sure that the men were being well tended to. Though they were there for one purpose and one purpose alone, Zaer was not of the opinion that they should be mistreated. Far from it. She, unlike some of her predecessors, believed strongly that the men deserved an existence that was just as comfortable as the underclass of women who bore the planet’s children. There were some who ridiculed her for her opinions, called her too liberal, too soft. But there was little they could do. Zaer had been elected for life and only an edict from the council of twelve could unseat her as commander.

She walked the dark corridor slowly, glancing into each cell to see each man for herself. The ones who’d been there some time always recognized her. They always nodded. They knew their life could be much worse, and Zaer liked to think that they appreciated her generosity and compassion. Sometimes the new ones would cause a ruckus. Flail against the bars of the cell or yell and scream obscenities at her. They would soon learn that such behavior was unacceptable. In all her time below decks, Zaer had had every kind of insult thrown at her and it only caused her to pause and smile.

“Where are the newest ones?” she asked, turning to look at the nurse behind her.

“Still in holding, ma’am. Would you like to see them?”

“I think I would,” Zaer replied and began walking toward the holding cells in the back.

“I’ll fetch a baton,” the nurse said, hurrying toward the office where they kept the correctional implements. The guards all carried them. It was easy to shock even the largest specimens into submission.

“That won’t be necessary,” Zaer called after the woman and continued walking toward the cells in the back. The nurse finally caught up with her.

“But ma’am, I have to tell you, some of the new ones are… well, they’re quite rugged,” the nurse said, somewhat out of breath from running back and forth.

Zaer couldn’t help but smile. The women always got more than a little nervous when she would enter the cages herself, unarmed and unescorted. If they only knew what she did when she came down alone at night.

“That’s not your concern. You’ll be perfectly safe, I assure you,” Zaer comforted, arriving at the first cell. As Zaer peered inside, she couldn’t help but smile. The nurse had not been telling stories. ‘Rugged’ was something of an understatement. The eyes that looked back at her almost glowed with fury. Though he was sitting down, the man was easily almost seven feet in height. His massive, broad chest was covered in hair, as were his arms and legs—thick, curly black hair that made his olive skin seem even darker than it was.

Zaer felt a swell of something start in her middle and move between her legs. If the others were anything like this one, she would be kept more than suitably amused until the next crop arrived. “Open the cell.”

The nurse gasped at the request.

“Ma’am, I must insist…” the nurse spluttered. But Zaer turned to look at her immediately, stopping her in midsentence with a scowl. Concern was one thing but to question a direct order? She couldn’t have that.

“Young woman,” Zaer shot, tired of all the mollycoddling she’d been doing all day, “you’ll do as you’re told or you’ll be suspended without pay. Now if you want you can lock the door to the gatekeeper’s room and stay in there while I go inside but you will open this door and you will do so at once.”

The look on the young woman’s face made Zaer immediately regret the tone she’d taken. She didn’t like speaking to anyone that way and she knew the girls were all just scared and worried for her more than anything. But their helplessness was so tiresome sometimes. Zaer looked after her as the woman scuttled away and made a note to apologize to her later. As the door to the gatekeeper’s room closed and locked, Zaer turned back just in time to hear the familiar click of the cell door opening. She watched it swing open slightly.

As Zaer entered the space, the man inside eyed her closely, but didn’t move. Zaer moved slowly, keeping her eyes on him at all times and making sure she had a gentle smile on her face. Not showing any fear was most of the trick. Not actually fearing anything made this much easier.

“I am Zaer Gwel,” Zaer said, speaking softly to the man. Her eyes raked up and down his strong body, pausing at the member between his legs. The thing was eight inches easily, without being erect. The sight made her wet. “You must know that we mean you no harm,” Zaer went on, meeting the man’s gaze. “I know there are stories told by your people of the things we do here. You can rest assured they aren’t true. You will be made very comfortable, I can assure you. As long as you cooperate, you will be relieved of your duties when your time is up. We have no intention of keeping you forever.”